Steve Jobs: iPhone Ain't Opening Up — OK so Jobs didn't use the word "ain't". But in a Newsweek interview with Steven Levy, Jobs put the kibosh on any talk about the iPhone opening up its platform for third party developers: … Perhaps the most revealing quote is about the issue …

Microsoft takes email design back 5 years — As I type this post I still can't believe it. I'm literally stunned. If you haven't already heard, I'm talking about the recent news that Outlook 2007, released next month, will stop using Internet Explorer to render HTML emails and instead use …

AT&T Prepares to 'De-Brand' the Cingular Wireless Name — One of the biggest "de-brandings" in advertising history is to begin Monday when AT&T, now the sole owner of Cingular Wireless, starts changing all Cingular marketing to adopt the AT&T name. — AT&T will not disclose the budget for the campaign …

Why Hollywood Snubbed Jobs at Macworld — Most of Tinseltown won't buy into the Apple chief's digital vision until he ponies up more money and gets more serious about protecting content — By all accounts, Steve Jobs gave a socko performance, delivered with his usual charm and controversial style …

The Small Fry Sour On Search Ads — Priced out by brand giants, the outfits that pioneered the medium are looking elsewhere — For years, running those little four-line text advertisements on Web search engines brought in a profitable stream of new customers to BabyAge.com.

a practice broken, a new silo created — I know i have some quirky habits but i really really really hate when web companies break them with their latest updates. One of my weird ones concerns getting directions to a place (which i do 2-3 times a day). For years now, i've thrown the address of the destination into google toolbar.

No blue movies on Blu-ray? — As it became clear that the choice between rival high-definition DVD formats would be left to the marketplace, and the hardware makers and entertainment companies started lining up behind either Blu-ray or HD DVD, many folks speculated that the decisive factor …

Will the iPhone be a Serious Business Device? — I had a long debate yesterday with James Joaquin, the former CEO of ofoto and one of the founders of When.com, about whether or not the iPhone will be just a toy or a serious business device. I think it is. He remains unconvinced.

THE LONDON CULTURALLY-DEPRIVED GEEK DAY OUT: SUNDAY 21ST JANUARY — Having spent most of the last few years in front of a computer screen, immersed in a tangled web of blogging, business and cartooning, I'm starting to feel a bit deprived of culture. And I'm sure a lot of techie/geek/entrepreneurs types out there feel the same.

Not Search Engine Spam — It's been a long time since I've engaged in serious spam fighting - about a decade. In 1998, the O'Reilly book Stopping Spam mentioned a spam filtering solution I had designed and helped implement for AOL's usenet system. Now, I find myself confronted …

GADGETS: The Ugly Babies of CES — NICK DOUGLAS — The annual gadget orgy known as CES turned out some shiny pretty things, but it popped out some damn ugly (and stupid, useless, wasteful, and all the other things your momma called you) gadgets. Here's an illustrated recap of the worst, and just what makes each so unsellable.

Getting (and keeping) a job in journalism — How many j-schools are permitting students to graduate with a journalism degree and inadequate skills to pursue a career in journalism? — I'm not asking for a count, but the question needs to be raised — and perhaps even shoved into the face of some deans and department heads.